Oh, oh, oh... When I saw you were posting, I was so excited that you were going to post one of your interesting bakes for the first time since forever. But then, a stack of icky white bread. Such disappointment. Please next time, let it be some Lumos bread-blogging. (Sorry for that. Nice to "see" you Lumos.) -Varda

I promise I'll do that (relatively) very soon. I've made a few new recipes that I'm quite pleased with during the absence from the forum that became a part of my regular daily loaves, so I'd love to blog about them. (To do that, I need to recharge my camera to start with....:p)

Apology for your disappointment, but still lovely to know there're some people who're still interested in my bread....even if you're saying it out of kindness. :p

The white bread crust gave off chemicals that smell like corn chips, potatoes, caramel, and flowers, while the whole wheat produced malty, earthy, cucumber, fatty smells. Which would you choose for toast?

I'll take the whole wheat flavor! In fact, I prefer mine extra sour, no honey, no oil, and nearly a brick. Goes great toasted with butter or with sharp cheese, sauerkraut, & mustard on a sandwich.

Umami & sour are a nice combination. I think the white stuff is just cake. But it's true that storebought ww flour can be bitter. It think that's because the oils go rancid so quickly. The NPR article didn't mention that factor, as I recall.

As I said in the title, it's not that I share the 'taste' of people who doesn't like WW bread, but I know a few people around me who never touches WW bread because it's 'bitter.' They also claim they 'love coffee' but can't drink it without adding a few spoons of sugar. (one of them actually add 4-5 spoons for a small cup) Some of them also don't like walnut because of its (almost negligible, I'd say...) bitterness. So I found someone was actually working on the issue to solve 'the problem' of WW bread for that kind of people quite interesting.

Not quite sure WW's bitterness is to do with rancid oil, though.... I think it's more to do with bran and germs in WW that plays a big role in the flavour of WW.

Biologically, all animals, including human, that has taste buds are programmed to avoid bitter tasting food because in natural world 'bitter' means 'toxic.' (against 'sweetness' is a sign of ripeness = good to eat) But in modern (vs primitive), civilized human society, bitteness can be an important element of 'desireble' flavour dimentions in many of our food that we highly regard. Food like coffee, dark chocolate being some of them. A study says it's because people's palate have been 'educated' over many, many years with development of culinary cultures and leared to taste and appreciate the bitterness itself as well as other comlexity of flavour BEYOND bitterness. Some studies even suggest more sophisticated a culinary culture is more bitter food there exists.

I'm more or less a student of the above school of thought, so, as a principle, I'd rather find a way to 'educate' the taste buds of those people to overcome their hatred of WW flavour than trying to eliminate (or mask) the 'bitterness' that's blocking their potential to appreciated the flavour (and more flavours beyond it). .....or maybe just tell them to 'Grow UP!!' :p

Like Varda I was excited when I tuned in and saw 'your' Roman Numerals and was looking forward to one of your breads. The photo didn't look like anything I have ever seen you bake so I knew I had to 'read' rather than look :-)

I guess we all have our opinions as to why things are the way they are. A complex situation with many factors...

I have always baked with 100% freshly ground grains and have done so out of nutritional considerations. I just never could grasp that the white stuff sold in supermarkets was any kind of real food. Peanut butter on a spoon or a slice of cheese wrapped in a crisp green lettuce leaf has always made more nutritional sense to me. My children were raised on whole grains and so my opinion is based on my experience that we shape our lives with our choices. My husband and my children love ww breads especially since I have learned how to bake them with pre-ferments and long bulk fermenting times. They prefer ww due to the complexity of the flavors as do the numerous people I bake for - all of whom are predisposed to eating 'whole' foods.

I have noted that many bakers here on TFL who are from Europe have commented on how we Americans like sweeter breads compared to the breads sold in Europe. I have no experience in that department but I do not fill my breads with sugars and fats (Unless they are holiday breads and then, watch out!). If I use a sweetener it is honey and at about 5% the flour amt. Same with fat content. I do know that a lot of the foods sold in the US contain sugar and I have my opinion on that too....It is used as a preservative but also to sell products to those who want sweet....This brings in the conditioning factor. Many here have been 'trained' to want sweet so that is what sells. I have seen it happen in the health food industry. A good product will start out 'pure' but in time, to sell to a wider market, they begin to add sugar to their product. I suspect they do it too to keep prices down as sugar is cheaper than sweetening with fruit juices or honey but they also want to branch out to a larger consumer base. The cold cereal aisle where I shop on a regular basis has changed tremendously over the past 20 years.

I enjoy reading what people have to say on the topic and I am impressed that the man in the article went to such lengths to discover the differences in taste and aroma. It is encouraging to know people are taking serious note of this 'staff of life' that we call our daily bread. Can't help but think it will, eventually, make more people think about what they are putting into their bodies and hopefully things will change.

Anyway....thanks for the peek and nice to see you posting. I have missed your blogs.

Really lovely to hear from you. Thanks for the reply..... in spite of your disappointment. :p As I said to Varda above, I promise I'll do my proper blogging (hopefully) soon.

Thank you for sharing yout thought and experience, too. I know you regularly bake and eat 100% WW bread. You also mill your own flour, too, which I'm sure makes a huge difference in flavour and aroma of resultant bread.

It's not only US but also in UK people luuuuuuuve sweet stuff. I'm originally from Japan and even after nearly 30 years living here, I still find a lot of things too sweet to my taste and am still appauled how much sweet stuff people eat very regularly. (though one of my nieces who just came back from the US after working there for a few years - who, I think, has a quite sweet tooth- told me how much sweeter food in the US is and how she was surprised see 'corn syrup' in ingredient list in so many food you buy) As well as we share the taste for sweet thing, we're also the most obese country in Europe. Not sure we can beat the US in that field as the world's No.1 nation of obesity (the most recent OECD report) very soon, but we're definitely getting there.....

No pressure to post. I know how busy life gets. I just have always enjoyed when your blogs have had time and your comments too. Very thoughtful.

Yes, sad state of affairs here. I have worked hard to instill good eating habits in my family. I eat whole foods and raised the children with them too. I never even had sugar in the house when adolescence hit and they had more freedom to choose snacking foods....in came the sweets and fast foods. I hope someday they will remember and make healthier choices. My daughter does pretty well with eating good foods but she has more of a sweet tooth that the boys do. She LOVES chocolate! My oldest actually doesn't like sweet stuff but he is on his own now and eats fast foods on a regular basis....The youngest is still at home and try as I might, he isn't interested in learning how to make nutritious meals. In fact, he is a pretty picky eater so feeding him is a challenge. He will eat my breads and is concerned about weight so he does his best with what is here. I still don't make things with sugar and the foods here are all 'whole' foods....he will go out and buy stuff though. Loves Chipolte burritos :-) What's a mother to do.....

My husband leads the pack and eats junk....always has despite my attempts to get him to eat more healthy stuff. He tries dieting and does 'diet' drinks and has some success but then gains the wt back....He works long hours and has different eating habits compared to us so it has been hard to try to prepare healthy thinks that he will eat. Oh well....I do my best.

Anyway, thanks again for the article and it is good to know you are still checking in.. I do know people are here for awhile and then they move on to other things. Such is the nature of our lives these days.

All original site content copyright 2015 The Fresh Loaf unless stated otherwise. Content posted by community members is their own. The Fresh Loaf is not responsible for community member content. If you see anything inappropriate on the site or have any questions, contact me at floydm at thefreshloaf dot com. This site is powered by Drupal and Mollom. It is part of the Federated Media Publishing - Food channel. Click here for advertising information.